Mayor Eric Adams receives poor ratings from New York City residents, Siena poll shows
NEW YORK -- The honeymoon may be over for Mayor Eric Adams.
A new poll suggests New Yorkers like his swagger all right, but they're turning a big thumb's down on how he's running things.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Tuesday, falling poll numbers are nothing new for anyone who occupies Gracie Mansion. Just ask Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg, and all the other mayors who preceded them.
Adams ran for mayor on the promise of making the city safe again, but from the very beginning it has proven to be a difficult task.
During his first month on the job, an 11-month-old baby was shot in the cheek, caught in the crossfire of a Bronx gun battle, a 19-year-old Burger King employee was killed by an armed robber, and two cops were killed, with the widow of slain Det. Jason Rivera crying over her lost love during a heart-wrenching eulogy.
"The system continued to fail us. We are not safe anymore," Domonique Luzuriaga said back on Jan. 28.
And despite a host of new police actions, the Adams administration has continued to be whipsawed by violence, including the Sunset Park subway shooting, the murder on the Q train, a 27-year-old was shot in the head last month.
"When is this going to stop? When is somebody going to do something?" one person told CBS2's Lisa Rozner back on May 1.
Political experts say its no wonder that a new Siena College poll gives Mayor Adams a 29 percent job approval rating.
"It seems like almost every week we're hearing a new story of an innocent bystander getting killed, you know, in broad daylight, many times and so I think people are scared right now. It's driving a fear and dissatisfaction right now on how City Hall is handling crime," political consultant Javier Lacayo said.
The poll numbers clearly reflect that.
- 70 percent say they feel less safe than before the pandemic
- 76 percent say they care concerned they will be a victim of a violent crime
But it's not a total blowout for the mayor. Many New Yorkers support key initiatives of his fledgling mayoralty.
- 85 percent support more cops on the subway
- 63 percent support metal detectors at subway entrances
- 60 percent support breaking up homeless encampments
- 67 percent support keeping the Gifted and Talented Program
- 53 percent like his style
Adams insists he's going to be able to keep his promise to make the streets safe.
"We're going to turn around this city in crime. I know that and New Yorkers are going to start not only being safe, they are going to feel safe," Adams said.
Falling poll numbers seem to be an affliction that comes with the job. A June 2019 poll, for example, gave de Blasio the same 29 percent approval rating as Adams.